


Keep Breathing

by kaige68



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Case Fic, Community: 1-million-words, Gen, McDanno if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 18:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5596228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaige68/pseuds/kaige68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team travels to Hilo to find a missing girl and a serial killer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Breathing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haldoor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haldoor/gifts).



> I started this fic years ago at the time when Kono was out finding Adam and the team was just the three boys. Yeah, that's how long ago, but that is the time line when this story takes place.
> 
> It is a song fic in that I put my player on random, listened to one song and then wrote a section of the story.
> 
> Be warned, it is heavy and a possibly hard to deal with. The violence might be more than typically cannon. Violence and non-con mentioned in the warnings refer to the casefic villain.
> 
> I finally pull this out of mothballs and finished it up for 1_million_words 12 Days of WIPness. 
> 
> Speedy read-through was done by AsphaltCowGrrl (thank you!), any remaining errors are entirely mine,

**Runnin’ Down A Dream** \- _Tom Petty_

_It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, we were driving with the top down, singing. We’re both home from school, and it doesn’t happen that often since neither of us went to college here. We e-mail, and Skype, but it’s not the same as being with your best friend and just driving._

At that point in the video the girl broke down. She and her friend were both 20, going to school on the mainland at Ivy League colleges. They were pretty and smart and home for the summer.

She was questioned again from her hospital bed, prompted to go on about what had happened. 

_We had surfed very early in the day, but neither of us are very good. We told our parents we were probably going for a hike, but just ended up driving. We stopped someplace for lunch, I don’t remember the place, it was on the Belt Road, just after Honokaa. I... I don’t remember the name... Maybe something Rose. The lady at the counter will remember us, we were talking to her for a while. He was there. In the parking lot. He was staring and creepy. We laughed. He was gone when we finished eating. We kept driving. And he was there._

She broke down again. Sobbing, her parents holding her, crying with her. Her mother a mess from having had a daughter missing for 4 days. Her father no longer stoic in his police uniform. He asked her to tell the task force more. Held her tighter.

_We drove out Mahaiula Bay. Parked the car. We were talking. Watching the water. She met a boy in Boston. And then... there was a noise, and he was next to the car with a knife the tires were flat. We tried to call for help, to run, but he grabbed me and told her he’d kill me. We got in the van. He made her drive the van..._

*~*~*

**Steven’s Last Night In Town** \- _Ben Folds Five_

He found that they always went for the flirty charming guys. The best ones went for the men that made them laugh. The smart ones could be so easily disarmed with an obviously false bravado. Wolves in surfboys’ clothing. He could always find the girls by finding the boys first.

_Bitches!_

He liked them in pairs. He really liked the ones that would give up their friend to save themselves, they screamed more. But the ones who would stick by the other girl were good too. He could torture them more, with the promise that the friend would live. And they needed to believe him.

_Stupid bitches!_

He never meant it, and the second one always knew she would die. But this one got away, and he couldn’t let her live. Her friend had died for her. She’d let him use her and demean her. She’d let him carve her up, with only a whimper. 

He told her to scream, she wouldn’t. He hit her face, cut her skin, broke her bones. She refused. She bit her tongue, he cut it out. He laughed, she choked on her own blood.

_The least the other bitch could do for such a good friend, was die!_

*~*~*

**Love Lockdown** \- _Kanye West_

“I don’t know that I’d have let Grace do that.” Danny had watched the recording that the Hilo PD had made of the girl, and that was the thing that stuck with him most. The father urging his daughter to keep going, to keep reliving the horror until everything was out.

“The father told me that the girls have been best friends since the first day of school. He said Cally was part of their family. Same with Keli.” Chin spoke up as he turned in his seat on the puddle jumper.

“You would.” Steve corrected Danny. “You’re a dad first, but if Gracie watched … that, both of you would want the guy caught.”

THAT, Danny really couldn’t argue with. He wasn’t sure he’d force her, but Steve was right that she’d want to do it. Danny needed to get his head in the case. “Both girls were sober, and they didn’t see this guy before lunch?”

“Both sober.” Chin confirmed. “The woman she mentioned at the counter actually owns a place called _Mountain Rose_ , it’s a fried food shack. But she thought the girls were a bit too giggly, talked to them for a while. No alcohol on their breath, pupils were normal. Blood tests on Keli came back negative. She remembers a guy watching them, but she wasn’t paying as much attention to him. He arrived after the girls and left before them. And no, no surveillance. She doesn’t remember him driving a van though. Thought it was just a car. Said with a van, she would have paid more attention.”

“I like this woman.” Danny pointed to the floor between the three men. Debating moving Grace to the big island where strangers kept an eye out.

Steve shook his head. “They still haven’t found Cally’s body?”

“From the condition Keli was found in, she could have been walking for two days. She could have been going along well...”

“Or she could have been going in circles.” Steve finished for Chin.

“And there have been four of these?” Danny went through the notes he had.

“In the past six years. Two girls go missing together. In the second instance, four years ago, one of the girls was found mutilated on reserve land near Waimea. The body was decomposed enough to leave no trace. She was one of the girls who had gone missing on their way to work in Keaau.”

“So there was no reason for her to have been in Waimea. We start in Waimea.”

*~*~*

**When the Clanns Unite** \- _Clann An Drumma_

The families were a wreck. They huddled together in the hospital, around Keli’s bed, in the lounge on her floor, in the cafeteria, in the lobby. Keli’s family and Cally’s family, together.

When Five-0 got to the room, they stayed outside, listening to Keli’s father speak in a choked up professionalism that all three men respected. Looking into the room they could see Keli, asleep. Her mother holding her hand from the chair next to the bed. Cally’s mother curled up on the small hospital bed while clutching at her daughter’s other half.

“I was told to tell you that you have the full use of the Hilo Police Department at your disposal. But you already knew that?” 

Steve smiled weakly back at the man. “We’re heading up to Waimea first.”

“The other.. body.” A tear fell down the man’s face. “You think they’re connected too?”

“We don’t see how they can’t be. It’s unusual for two girls to disappear at a time, when it’s clearly not a runaway situation. To have four...” Steve let it drop, the man was a cop, he knew. “We’ll also talk to the woman at the Mountain Rose. See what else she can give us.”

“Thank you, Commander, Detectives. I appreciate you telling me this. I’d help but...”

Chin put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “You’re needed here, Brah.” 

The father nodded. “And I’m a little too close to it to do more good than harm.” His weak smiled flashed again and then his eyes went beyond the men. “If you have just a minute before you go, Cally’s father, I’d like you to speak to him for a few minutes. Just... if you could tell him what you told me. It would help him. He knows I’m not blowing smoke but...”

Danny spoke up this time. “But he’s a dad.” He turned to shake the other father’s hand. To tell him what they knew, things he already knew, to tell him their plans, to give any comfort that he could to the man whose little girl would not be coming home.

Steve and Chin stood behind him. All united to find Cally and her murderer.

*~*~*

**Rope** \- _Foo Fighters_

The sketch artist that had talked to Keli, hadn’t been able to get a lot of detail about their suspect. The same went for the woman from the road side stand. The guy was average. Not tall, not short, not disfigured, not noticeable beyond the ‘creepy’ factor, not haole. Really didn’t get them anywhere. 

They questioned some of the locals, got nothing. The picture could be a hundred guys. People just shrugged. 

Danny was Danny. “Well how about a creepy neighbor? You got one of those don’t ya? Maybe you’ve seen him burying things in his backyard. Around the time that girl was found, or within the last couple of days.”

Steve walked up, put his hands on Danny’s shoulders and smiled at the civilian. “Sorry, he’s the creepy neighbor on his street. Government conspiracies, tin foil hats. Sorry.”

As he was dragged away Danny reminded the guy to keep an eye out for people digging body sized holes, or guys with too much rope.

“You are not doing us any favors, Brah.”

“Hey, I’m the crazy haole. I’m like Colombo here.”

One of the local cops ran up to them. “The tip line got a call they think was good. Surfer reported seeing the girls at the beach the morning they disappeared. Said there was _a creeper_ watching them. Left right after them.”

Steve turned. “Well, Crazy Haole, looks like you’ve got an interview.”

*~*~*

**Carol of the bells** \- _Nancy Wilson_

Bitch got loose! Bitch got loose, hit him, and got more loose.

It didn’t matter. He’d find her. The second one from the last pair… He’d let her get loose, let her think she’d have more of a chance. He’d loved hunting her down. She hadn’t gotten that far. She’d been missing a hand and still bleeding from it. But some instinct that he loved made her think she stood a chance. It wasn’t much of a chase with that one. There’d been a blood trail to follow.

He felt the laugh build up inside him.

He’d find this one too. The screams would tell him where she was. The other girls always gave the new ones away. He’d follow the screams and find the bitch and teach her that she couldn’t get away. 

And her screams would join the others. And some day, she’d help point out the next ones. 

It was a perfect system.

*~*~*

**Stay with me, Baby** \- _Duffy_

“The search teams have exhausted the trails.” Chin reported when Steve and Danny got back from interviewing the surfer. “They know where she came out onto the road. There were footprints for a small distance. And they spiraled out from the last spot they could tell was her. There were intermittent footprints, barefoot, Keli’s size, but they were only in muddy places where water collects.”

“No direct path?” Steve asked.

“No. She was wandering for a long time, and it’s pretty clear she was lost and disoriented.” Chin supplied.

“I should go take a look at some of the spots, I might be-”

Chin stopped Steve with a wry smile. “The of the volunteers are retired SEALS.”

Steve nodded.

“That’s what it takes to get you to give in. An old SEAL says so, it must be true?” Danny started gesturing.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Steve laughed along with Chin.

*~*~*

**Rob the Bank** \- _Placebo_

They called in all the favors they had and borrowed heavily on other people’s favors. 

There were thermal satellite scans, topography analysis, comb throughs of minor offenders who could have escalated. 

The Hilo PD had it’s hands full vetting volunteers, weeding through tips, rounding up scumbags who might be in the know.

Their guy had been profiled as a loner. Probably not someone who dealt well with society between his kills. He’d most likely been in his thirties when he’d started killing, but the double kills probably hadn’t been his first kills. 

They started combing through outcasts who’d been arrested for disorderly or malicious conduct. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a place to start.

Then a helicopter doing infrared scans found a group of scavenger animals digging seven miles from where Keli had come onto the road. When the ground troops went in, they’d found Cally’s body.

*~*~*

**Charmless Man** \- _Blur_

_That bitch!_

_That whore!_

They were laughing. They were all laughing at him. Through the screaming, the beautiful screaming. Through it and over it.

When he killed one, the screaming just got louder, almost unbearable. Not enough to lose the fun of making the second one scream. But when he killed the second one, the noise subsided. He could feel the calm. As though all of the blood could abate the noise. It always felt so good when the second one stopped screaming.

_Fucking cunt got away!_

And now he couldn’t find her. The screaming in his head got louder. He could hear the last girl laughing that her friend had gotten away. He’d searched for miles, for two days. _That bitch!_

 _Now they’ll know._ The last girl whispered in his ear. _Now they’ll come and stop you._ She whispered again. And then she laughed.

*~*~*

**Bitch** \- _Meredith Brooks_

Danny flailed awake. He was panicking, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get the “GOD DAMNED COVERS OFF!” He slid to the floor when he realized where he was. 

The three of them had crashed in one hotel room. Danny had hit Steve when he jerked awake. Chin was clearly roused by the noise. Both men stared down at Danny.

“Four hours.” Steve said when he finally broke the silent tension. It was the most sleep they’d had since they arrived three days before. Steve stood up clearly believing that it was the extent of the sleep they’d be getting. “I’ll hit the shower first.”

Danny dropped his head to his hands and Chin started the coffee maker. 

“You wanna talk about it, Brah?”

“No.” Danny told his hands.

“This case is rough, it’s-”

“It’s a bitch. It’s the ugliest case we’ll ever be on until we get to the next one like it.”

“Danny-”

“You didn’t see his face. Ray… He knew his daughter was dead. You saw the he accepted the truth when Keli had first said it. But it was…” Danny took a deep breath, he tilted his head back against the mattress with his eye glued to the ceiling. “He still had some kind of hope until he was looking at her body.”

“Danny-”

“I don’t think he thought she’d be alive. I don’t know… Maybe he thought it would be less obvious that some sick twisted sadistic freak had played out his fantasies on her. I…”

“Danny-”

“That lower than the lowest scum that ever belly-crawled the earth, told Cally that he’d let Keli live if she did what he told her. If she shut up and let herself be mutilated while her best friend watched. He tortured both of those girls at once and he enjoyed every sick minute of it!”

“Danny!” 

Arms went around him, pulled him into Steve’s wet chest. He hadn’t heard Steve get out of the shower, hadn’t even heard the shower start. But then, Danny didn’t know he was crying either.

*~*~*

**Everybody wants you** \- _Billy Squier_

They had a collection of about fifteen suspects. Narrowed down to that from what Danny felt was an astronomical number. Gleaned by how they’d escalated, if they’d actually been to prison while some of the girls went missing, and how much of a social loner they actually were.

Chin was bringing the mugshots to the hospital. Hoping that Keli would recognize someone _if_ he got permission to show them to her, hoping that it wouldn’t further traumatize her.

Steve and Danny got a call right after Chin drove off. Using the location of Cally’s body, teams had continued searching and were now finding more remains. It felt like a relief and also like a let down.

Steve drove them off to the site of the dumps and the two started driving from isolated home to isolated home asking if the people knew anything, if they’d seen anything, if they had creepy neighbors. They found someone who said yes.

There was a creepy guy, someone who’d been seen dragging boars through the mountains. They thought he kept a shack around somewhere, and he’d always yell if someone started talking to him.

While they knew being an anti-social survivalist who hunted his own food did not make a man a serial killer, another neighbor down the street had gone to school with the man, and the name was on the list of mugshots Chin had.

Hilo PD had nine of the list in questioning by the time Five-0 had their info, but Danny was putting his money on this creepy neighbor. The manhunt began when Keli confirmed from the photo.

*~*~*

**Keep Breathing** \- _Ingrid Michaelson_

The dogs were loose. Their handlers were struggling to keep up. Danny was struggling to keep up. Steve was almost out ahead of the dogs.

It was raining. Everything was soaked, muddy and dark. Danny had no idea where he was in relation to where they started, he just kept going. Kept moving. Kept breathing.

Samuels was on the run and they were going to get him. Danny didn’t doubt it for a minute. Even as he slipped and fell down a hill. He just got back up and got back into the running line. Followed the sound of the dogs. Followed glimpses of Steve’s bright shirt.

No little girls were going to lose their lives, or their best friends because of this man again.

*~*~*

**My Favorite Things** \- _Tony Bennett_

In the end it had been very unsatisfying. Danny was actually still pissed off as they flew back to Oahu.

Samuels knew the territory, knew where he was going, knew where he could hide. But he’d done the same thing Danny had done. He looked up. Looked to gauge where the dogs were and he misstepped. Samuels slipped and fell and crashed down the side of a rocky hill. He was dead by the time Steve got to him.

Danny wanted to know why. What demons the man had. What had driven him to commit the atrocities he had. Danny wanted to know how to keep the next guy from picking up where Samuels left off. Danny wanted… “I wanted to see him face a firing squad of angry parents.”

“No death penalty, Brah.” Chin said into the chopper’s headset.

“We could have found a way to arrange it.”

Steve laughed. “Think better things, D, favorite things. Dog bites and bee stings and schnitzel.”

“I don’t think that’s the way the song goes.”

“Sure it does.”

“No it doesn’t”

Chin took off his headset and tried to get some sleep


End file.
